Tag: People of Earth

TBS has opted not give a third-season renewal to its summer series People of Earth, the network’s supernatural-tinged comedy. Creator David Jenkins tipped the news last night on Twitter, and the move comes after the network had initially renewed …

TBS has pulled the plug on comedy “People of Earth” after two seasons. The Turner cabler had renewed the Wyatt Cenac starrer last September for a third season. But series creator David Jenkins broke the news of the cancellation via Twitter …

It’s a good day for fans of TBS’ recent slate of high-concept sitcoms, with Variety reporting that Wrecked, The Guest Book, and People Of Earthhave all received new seasons from the cable network. Wrecked and People are both being renewed for third seasons, while Greg Garcia’s Guest Book will be back for its second,…

There’s nothing large about the satisfying and humane “People of Earth,” except the distance its alien characters have traveled to this planet full of mixed-up humans. It’s not a show that traffics in big moves or over-the-top jokes, but it’s all the more enjoyable for its devotion to dry, character-driven comedy. And despite being about… Read more »

Saturday Night Live alumna Nasim Pedrad (Scream Queens, New Girl) has signed on as a series regular for Season 2 of TBS’ hit comedy seriesPeople of Earth, which premieres this summer.
The series centers on a group of alien abductees – or “experiencers” – living in the small town of Beacon, N.Y. Pedrad will play Special Agent Alex Foster, a smart, dedicated FBI investigator getting a second chance after recently being disgraced. Alex comes to Beacon on the hunt for local…

“Search Party” and “People of Earth” have both been renewed for second seasons at TBS, TheWrap has learned.

“Search Party” launched its entire first season over Thanksgiving week, drawing more than 1.1 million viewers per episode across all platforms over five days and growing.

The dark comedy follows a group of 20-something New Yorkers looking for a college acquaintance who has gone missing. It stars Alia Shawkat, John Early, John Reynolds, Meredith Hagner and Brandon Micheal Hall.

Search Party is executive-produced by Michael Showalter, Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers. Tony Hernandez and Lilly Burns also serve as executive producers. Turner’s Studio T is producing in association with Jax Media.

“People of Earth” centers on skeptical journalist Ozzie Graham (Wyatt Cenac) who investigates a support group to write about the members’ supposed alien encounters. The more he digs into their oddball claims, however, the more he realizes a semblance of truth to their stories and, possibly, even signs that point to his own alien abduction.

Since premiering Halloween night, the show has ranked among the year’s top 10 new cable comedies among adults 18-49 and is currently reaching 4.3 million viewers per episode across all platforms.

Aliens are hardly new on TV, especially when it comes to the comedic format. Extraterrestrials have lived among us (“3rd Rock From the Sun”), set up their own neighborhoods (“The Neighbors”), mixed with other species where they hung out in space (“Red Dwarf”) and even featured prominently on “Saturday Night Live” for several years (the Coneheads sketches back in the ’70s).Taking the concept and twisting it around to focus on those who have had alien encounters, however, is a pretty fresh take on the topic. That’s the entry point for TBS’s latest comedy “People of Earth.”

Viewers meet a group of misfits at an “experiencers” support group – run by former “SNL” star Ana Gasteyer – when Ozzie Graham (“The Daily Show’s” stoic-faced Wyatt Cenac) shows up to write an article on their experiences. The only catch is that as Ozzie is driving in from the big city to cover the group he has an encounter of his own, making him question his own jaded, preconceived notions.

Offbeat and inherently silly, the pilot goes on to explain that there are three kinds of aliens – big eyed creepers, lizard-like beings and good-looking Ryan Gosling types, but their real motivations and what they want with the humans they abduct become one of the show’s main mysteries by the end of the pilot.

It all adds up to an extremely quirky comedy that isn’t for the masses, but one that doesn’t take itself too seriously, either. “Daily Show” fans will inevitably love Cenac here as much as they did before he and Jon Stewart had a falling-out on that show; he’s an interesting choice for a lead and one that you can’t really turn away from. Between his sarcastic comedic timing and facial expressions he alone is enough to carry the show, but Ozzie’s personality is rounded out by characters that are inherently crazier than he is in order for his descent into a believer to work. Someone has to hold his hand and convince him he’s not losing his mind, after all.

Then there’s the creative team behind the series, which comes with its own form of accolades. Helping creator David Jenkins along are executive producers Conan O’Brien and Greg Daniels, who famously turned the American version of “The Office” into a long-running success story. If anyone could be trusted with writing for a mismatched group of characters that are forced into the same setting through one commonality it’s him.

On the other hand, although this is a rare instance for viewers to explore alien life from a new point of view, the support group premise itself isn’t a new one; Matthew Perry’s 2012 entry “Go On” was unable to find success bringing people together with the very same setup. Unfortunately it’s hard to see “People of Earth” having a different outcome given all the overly cartoonish characters viewers meet at the outset. Perhaps as they settle into themselves and gain some depth throughout the coming episodes that could change, but that’s a risky gamble for viewers who are quick to change the dial when faced with hundreds of options these days.

The bottom line? “People of Earth” earns kudos for going for the stars, but it also suffers from a failure to launch.

Without any outside help, humans are doing a pretty good job of making a mess of things on this planet, so it’s hard to put alien invasion high on the list of existential threats. The defanged nature of that premise, long a staple of sci-fi storytelling, accounts for much of the amiability of “People of… Read more »